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Friday, February 3, 2012

Houndstooth Quilt Tutorial

A while I ago I blogged about my baby houndstooth quilt. That was a really quilt to try and figure out and so thought I'd show you how I did it. Keep in mind that because I did NOT follow or have a pattern, my first version (shown above) turned out smaller than I wanted because I forgot to calculate both block seams. Oops! I also didn't know how much fabric or yardage to start with and didn't know what size my striped blocks would end up being after I squared them up. (Lesson learned: When figuring out your own pattern, DO NOT cut your solid squares first. Do your hard pieced squares first to figure out what the final size would be! I cut my solids at 5" first, then realized after squaring my striped blocks turned out around 4.5". So I had to go back and cut all my solids down. Lame...) So after recalculating, taking some pictures, and drawing out a rough sketch of what your layout should look like, here is the tutorial. This is my first big tutorial, so I hope you can understand it!

First decide which of the two sizes you want your quilt to be. I like a lot of the houndstooth shapes in a small amount of area, so my block sizes are pretty small! Otherwise a baby size quilt wouldn't look much like a hounds tooth pattern.

Note* These measurements are for the quilt top only.

USE A 1/4" SEAM ALLOWANCE FOR ALL SEAMS!

UPDATE: I had a request for instructions on adding a statement block to the quilt top. You can click HERE for some basic instructions.

Baby Houndstooth Quilt: 9x9 block layout making an approx. 45" square with 81 blocksFabric requirements (from a 44/45" bolt):
TIP*If purchasing fabric for this project, be sure that the person cutting your fabric makes sure the fabric is squared up before they cut your yardage. Be sure they square up by matching the selvedge ends. Doing this at the table will ensure you get the best possible cut so there will be less straightening once you get home. After all, fabric is expensive and you don't want to get home and realize you have to cut 2-3 inches off because the cutting lady matched up the cut ends and not the selvedge.

Cut 10- 2.5" by WOF strips of the dark fabric and 10- 2.5" by WOF strips of the light fabric

Follow the instructions below to make your 40 striped blocks.

Throw Houndstooth Quilt: 13x13 layout making an approx. 65" square. 169 blocks.Fabric requirements (from a 44/45" bolt):
TIP*If purchasing fabric for this project, be sure that the person cutting your fabric makes sure the fabric is squared up before they cut your yardage. Be sure they square up by matching the selvedge ends. Doing this at the table will ensure you get the best possible cut so there will be less straightening once you get home. After all, fabric is expensive and you don't want to get home and realize you have to cut 2-3 inches off because the cutting lady matched up the cut ends and not the selvedge.

Cut 21- 2.5" by WOF strips of the dark fabric and 21 - 2.5" by WOF strips of the light fabric

Follow the instructions below to make your 84 striped blocks.

Instructions for making your striped blocks:

Sew one of each of your dark and light fabrics RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER (RST).

Press with seams open. Starting at one end, cut your selvedge.

The easiest way to cut these triangles, is to make a template. For this particular tutorial, cut from cardboard or heavy cardstock a 6.25" square. Then cut that square in half. You can use one of the triangles for a template.

Once you have your triangles cut, separate them into 2 piles. One with the light small triangles, and one with dark small triangles.

Now take one from each pile, line up the long sides as sew RST.

Square up your striped squares to 5.5". Once you have cut all your solids, and pieced all your striped squares, you are ready for preparing your layout and sewing your quilt top.

Baby quilt layout:

The important part about the layout is to make sure your striped blocks are all facing in the correct direction. These are what make the hounds tooth shape. Every row of striped blocks will alternate between having a purple corner up with a white corner down. I've circled some blocks in the picture below to show you. Every corner will have a bow-tie effect. Sew right sides together, one row at a time alternating seam directions.

Throw size layout:

The important part about the layout is to make sure your striped blocks are all facing in the correct direction. These are what make the hounds tooth shape. Every row of striped blocks will alternate between having a purple corner up with a white corner down. I've circled some blocks in the picture below to show you. Every corner will have a bow-tie effect. Sew right sides together, one row at a time alternating seam directions.

Thank you thank you thank you for this amazing tutorial!!! I just posted my finished product here therebelandtherailroader.blogspot.com Thank you again for the EPIC pattern, turned out beautiful and it was really easy to follow!

I made the throw size of this quilt and aside from the cursing while putting the last few rows on it went together quite well. Your instructions were fabulous and easy to follow. I was wondering how I would go about making this pattern larger? I'd prefer my blocks to be 8-12 inches for the next one rather than the 6 that yours is. Can you help me figure that one out? 8in squares is not hard but the stripes are what have me confused. Would they need to be 5 in a piece in order to finish down to an 8in square? I realize it'll take a little more fabric but I'm ok with that. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I know you posted a while ago, so you may have figured this all out already, but you will want to make your stripes wider, as opposed to adding a 5th stripe. If you add a 5th stripe the pattern will not look like houndstooth. Unfortunately I can't help you with that math, the way the diagonal width effects the finished square width. Blerg.

What seam allowance are you using?! If I don't use the right seam allowance on the striped squares they won't turn out to be the same size at the block squares. Ugh, math. Thanks for the tutorial, it's a super cute quilt!

In "Quilts from the House of Tula Pink" there is a really easy method for cutting the striped squares on point from 4 strips that are sewn together. It wastes a bit of fabric, but seems easy to follow. I found the book through our interstate library loan system.Mary

Awesome tutorial! Just what I was looking for. I'm modifying it so that I'm using four fabrics instead of having two light and dark fabrics. They are pink, yellow, green and blue, all the same print. Thanks! :)

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Thank you for reading or even just visiting my blog. Please remember that I reserve all rights to the photos, blog posts, and all other content of this site, unless otherwise noted. Feel free to share the link to this blog when using tips, tutorials, or pictures. Otherwise, you can contact me for other questions, comments, and/or permissions. -Jayme (jaytensen@gmail.com)